Lewis Hamilton life and biography

Lewis Hamilton (full name Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton) is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren Mercedes team and is the youngest ever Formula One World Champion winning the title in 2008.

His parents divorced when he was just two years old and until the age of ten he lived with his mother. After this he lived with his father and his step-mother.

He discovered his taste for racing at the age of six when his father bought him a radio-controlled car and after one year he became vice-champion in the national championship. Soon after this his father bought him as a Christmas present a go-kart and from that moment his father supported his career and many times this was very hard financially.
He had to take three jobs.

Lewis attended The John Henry Newman School in Stevenage and there he took karate lessons.

At the age of eight he started his karting career at Rye House Kart Circuit and soon after this he won many races and championships.
At the age of ten Lewis approached the McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at the 1995 Autosport Awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day." Less than three years later, he was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme. After winning the British Formula Renault, European Formula Three and GP2 championship in 2006, he became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007, making his Formula One debut 12 years after his initial encounter with Dennis. Coming from a mixed-race background, with a black father and white mother, Hamilton is often labelled "the first black driver in Formula One".

In his first season in Formula One Hamilton set numerous records and finished second in the 2007 Formula One Championship one point behind Kimi Räikkönen. His first world championship was won the following season, ahead of Felipe Massa by the same margin of a single point. He has stated that he wants to stay with the McLaren team for the rest of his F1 career.
In 2008, he successfully won the F1 World Championship in the last race of the season. He was narrowly pipped to the post in the BBC sports personality of the year award. In any other year, Lewis Hamilton would probably have won. But, 2008 was also a remarkable Olympic year for the British team. The title was awarded to triple gold medallist Chris Hoy.

At times Lewis Hamilton has courted controversy for manoeuvres on the track or remarks off it. He is very much in the public spot light and his words are usually closely scrutinised. Racing in Spain, he was the victim of racial abuse from some Spanish supporters. His close rivalry with Spanish rider Fernando Alonso being responsible for encouraging Spanish supporters to direct abuse at Hamilton, some of it racial in nature. Lewis Hamilton has also been criticised by some MPs for avoiding paying UK taxes by living out of the country. However, Lewis Hamilton has inspired many and is seen as a great role model especially for young black people. He was named after Olympic sprint champion, Carl Lewis.

In November 2007, Hamilton started dating Nicole Scherzinger, the lead singer of the American girl band Pussycat Dolls; it was announced in January 2010 that they split up to focus on their respective careers, however they were seen together at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix and at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, on 13 June 2010.

On July 18, 2011, X-Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger has dismissed reports that she is engaged to her racer-boyfriend Lewis Hamilton after a reportedly rumour which said they have engaged in Paris.

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